Archive for September, 2012

The other day I was flipping through one of my old notebooks and came across something written in the margins. It said, “You’re going to blab it to the world with the expression on your face.” Now, I have no idea why I wrote that down years ago, but that phrase inspired me to try and write my own song. I’ve never really written a song on my own, so I’m not sure how good it is, but it’s been interesting trying to piece lyrics, vocals and chords together. This is definitely a work in progress… I don’t even have a title for it yet! But I thought I would share where I am now.

I started by just writing phrases and ideas that I wanted to include in the lyrics. I had a specific rhythm for the verses that I knew wanted to do immediately, so I fit the words into that and then went from there! The chorus was a little bit harder, but I knew I wanted it to be much smoother/slower than the verse, so I played around a bit until I liked it. Keep in mind that when I originally wrote out these lyrics it was a night that I couldn’t sleep at like 4 am, so I couldn’t really sing them for fear of waking my roommate. I ended up doing a whispered recording of it just so I would possibly remember then rhythm the next day. Then today, I started singing it a few times a cappella and recording it until I liked the flow of it. Then I got out my ukulele and figured out a good key and chords to go with it! This recording is just a bare bones single track with very little uke (my fingers were getting really sore from playing through it so many times!!) just to sort of document my progress, but I think you can get an idea of how the song will be.

I’m not sure how I feel about the bridge just yet, but I’m happy with the progress I’ve made today. I don’t expect this to be a chart topper or anything, just something that’s purely for my amusement, but I would appreciate any feedback! I’m hoping to eventually add a full ukulele part, harmonies, drums, etc. to this, but that’s definitely a ways away. Hope you like my spur of the moment creation!

I happened to have today off, which is very strange for a Wednesday, so my roommate and I decided to go to the Farmer’s Market in Market Square! We caught the tail end of it and bought some great veggies, but we also found out that there was another Farmer’s Market at the UT Gardens later this afternoon! So we decided, why not go? We got there way before the market actually started, so we decided to walk around the UT Gardens. In case you don’t know, the University of Tennessee has a huge agricultural department and actually started as an agriculture school originally. So, they’ve set up these huge gardens on the Ag campus, as we call it, that showcase beautiful plants! I’ve been one other time, very briefly several years ago, but it was in November, so most of the stuff was dead. I was really blown away at how gorgeous and well kept everything was, so I ended up taking a bunch if pictures! I took them on my cell and I edited them in InstaGram (super technical, I know…) and thought I’d share them here!

One big fenced off section of the Gardens is called the Kitchen. It houses tons of different fruit, vegetables and herbs from all over the place! It had an amazing aroma and I put some mint, rosemary and thyme in my bag, so it smells great, too! This first photo is of some teeny eggplants!

Lining the outside of the fence there were a lot of sunflowers. Sunflowers have always been my favorite flower, I even designed my bedroom around them when I was little (it was very 90s complete with sponge painting…), so I had to snap a picture when I saw them! I think they were the bees’ favorite, too!

Away a little bit from the Kitchen there was this HUGE plant (bush? I couldn’t find a plaque with the name of it…) that had enormous leaves on it! As I told Bethany, you could swaddle a baby with those leaves, they we so big! The second pic below is just for size reference so you can see how huge they were compared to my hand.

Any good garden has to have roses, in my opinion, and the UT Gardens definitely lived up to that! I think this is a rose…. But I’m terrible at flower/plant recognition, so I could be wrong, so tell me in the comments what it is! At any rate, rose or not, I thought it was gorgeous!

I noticed this red arbor from several yards away and immediately wanted to take a look at it! Much to our surprise and my pleasure it surrounded a labyrinth! Here’s Bethany happy to be outside in front of the arbor.

I think this picture is my favorite from the day. I didn’t edit this at all because I thought it was perfect without any special filters! I just love how the slats of the arbor looked going in a curve!

As I mentioned, this arbor surrounded a labyrinth made of stones. I’ve walked labyrinths three other times in my life, and each time I’ve gotten a sense of calm and clarity that I can’t explain. The first labyrinth I walked was one I helped create with my youth group and one of my earliest moments of spiritual clarity and peace. The second labyrinth was in Ireland the second day I got there. I walked it in silence with my youth leader and it stands out to me as one of the closest moments I have ever had with her and the first of many moments where I really felt the presence of the holy spirit with me in Ireland. It also really prepared me for the trip ahead, I think. The last labyrinth I have walked until today it the one outside of my church back home. Shortly after it was made, I walked it in silence and found clarity about issues with my life at that moment. Today’s experience at the Labyrinth at the UT Gardens was no different. I’ve had an issue that has been laying very heavily in my heart for the past few days, and as I walked the labyrinth, I had sudden clarity about what I needed to do, and what was right for me. I really can’t explain the feeling it gave me, but it was as if my eyes opened to what I needed. I’m not a super religious person, but for me, labyrinths like this one are one of the best ways for me to find my own spiritual guidance, and now that I know this one is here, I plan to visit it more often.

This has ended up being a wordy post, but I felt the need to write out my emotions that happened in this garden today. It was really a magical day and I hope to go back!

It has been a really long time since I’ve posted anything… almost a month! I’ve just gotta say I’ve been super busy with work and this move, so I’m sorry! I’ve got a few things in the works, but I just need to finish them and post them… soon!

At any rate, I was in the car with my friend a couple of weeks ago and she had Lady Antebellum’s newest album on. I know what you’re thinking… yes they are technically a country group, BUT they are soooooooo much better in tune and not so twangy, so I really like them! And I like their harmonies Anyways, Just A Kiss came on and I started to try and pick out the lower part while my friend sang the higher. We ended up listening to it twice! I decided then that this would be a fun song to cover, so I did!

I found the sheet music for free just by doing a simple google search. I originally was going to actually play the piano part live on the piano in GarageBand on my iPad, but it was taking forever, and there’s not really enough room for two hands! So I ended up writing it out on my computer. Then I just recorded the 2 parts and was done!